


Violets and Lavender Aren't Needed In War

by Karyra



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Twins, F/M, Hanahaki Disease, I refuse to let go of Sothis, M/M, listen I just want twins for all the male unit female unit choices, listen I love twin aus for my units
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-06
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:27:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 18,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23036251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Karyra/pseuds/Karyra
Summary: The middle of a war is not the time to get hanahaki. But the twins are determined to not distract their students. Things get more dire when thrown between the gears of war, injuring some and nearly killing others.But they say if you take the medicine long enough... something terrible happens.
Relationships: Ashe Duran | Ashe Ubert & My Unit | Byleth, Yuris Leclair | Yuri Leclerc & My Unit | Byleth
Kudos: 21





	1. Before The War

Hanahaki.

When the twins had first manifested petals at a passing villager, Jeralt had laughed at the pair.

"Better go confess before you go making bouquets out your mouths!"

Since they were both about ten, the response the teen face was, "sorry. I uh... don't date kids. Come back in ten years and maybe!"

That had been eight years ago, and Keanu and Yossaria had both long forgotten the teen's face and voice. But they held hands when they confessed, blurting it out between coughing fits.

Jeralt explained to them both that letting the disease carry on too long would kill them. Something about it did something with their crest and how it turns out flowers growing in your throat was not healthy.

Yossaria remembered these words as she coughed over her tea in her room.

"I can't believe that between you and the other mostly silent wonder, you somehow managed to fall in love with anyone," Sothis said in her usual superior tone. "You two have the emotional depth of a puddle. Combined."

Yossaria cleared her throat and replied, "I didn't think those things so you could go rummaging in my brain for them, you gremlin."

"Goddess."

"Gremlin."

Yossaria stirred her tea, wondering what brought up the memory. It wasn’t as if she was about to date anyone from her class. She was twenty some odd years old, that certainly would be exceedingly awkward.

“You should know your age. Most mortals mark the years at least,” Sothis butted in.

“Gremlin, go bother Keanu for a while, I’m busy,” Yossaria replied. She then pulled the papers down from higher on the desk to illustrate her point.

“You just pulled those down to work on them, but fine. I will let you lament the lack of my glorious presence.” She flipped her hair as if to illustrate her point, but Yossaria was not paying any attention.

Sothis had enough of that one’s ignoring her, so she drifted away, pulled towards where Keanu was. The monastery was familiar to Sothis by now, and she happily enjoyed going through students and causing a small chill near them. The scaredy cats were the most fun. She kept a list of them, but today she would have to stretch herself too far between the twins to make a detour.

“Keanu...” Sothis said, sounding pouty. “Your sister is ignoring me. Says she’s busy grading papers.”

“Sounds like you were rooting around in her memories again,” he said as he was stocking the Blue Lions classroom. Pens and ink needed to be replaced, and chalk set for the week to come. He did this fairly frequently, and didn’t really mind it.

“Well, neither of you want to volunteer any information about yourselves, so I had to do something to entertain myself.” Sothis moved to sit next to the desk Keanu was busy cleaning. “You can hardly blame me for wanting to do something other than watch you two work all the time.”

“This is why she calls you a gremlin, you know.” Keanu then moved to the bookcases, picking out books on tactics and things related to what Yossaria would be lecturing on.

Sothis watched him move about robotically with an uninterested stare. “You know, she was thinking of the time you two got Hanahaki.”

“So you _were_ looking in her head.”

“I _just_ told you it was boring to deal with you two just doing chores all day. Of course I did, and besides. We’re all connected, don’t you know? Your thoughts are mine by right.” Sothis preened, floating up off the desk.

“All right, I have to go into town anyway, so we’ll set off after I get my bag.” Keanu shook his head at the Goddess.

“You are much more agreeable than your sister is.” Sothis followed dutifully after him.

“You mean more of a pushover. Besides, she’s on teaching duty this week. Of course she can’t play with you.” Keanu waved at students as he passed them in the hall, trying to not speak too loudly.

“I wish there was a way for you to not have to whisper to me when you’re in public. Sure we’re connected, but if only there was a way for you to silently respond, then we could talk any time.” Sothis phased through another student as they walked.

  
  


“I can not even roam too far away,” Sothis complained. “So I have to find ways to pass the time when I am not sleeping. If I go too far, I start to... forget.”

Keanu kept a passive face as they turned the corner to the dormitories.

“What do you think we should get in town? Oh, how I want it to be something shiny.”

“Ah Professor!” A familiar voice called out, and a certain orange haired young man waved to catch Keanu’s attention. “I had a question about who was teaching this week...”

“You already know. You keep tabs on when Yossaria is teaching. In fact, you usually skip my lecture weeks,” Keanu replied. “You know that your grade is suffering because of your extreme absence.”

“Well, what can I say? Yossaria just gives a more interesting lecture.” Sylvain shrugged. “I can’t help it if your sister is just better at it than you.”

“You haven’t attended even one of my classes since we began here.”

“All right, all right. Well, if you’re going into town, let me help carry stuff back. You could always use an extra set of hands, right? And maybe this will help me earn some extra credit...?” Sylvain asked.

“You may come, but there will be no extra credit.” Keanu shook his head. “Also, please refrain from hitting on my sister. She may wield the Sword of the Creator, but don’t think that I will even remotely hesitate to strike you down first if you make her sad.”

“Oh come on Teach, you know that I respect you both too much to try anything.” Sylvain smiled, but both the twins had long since figured out that the smile he wore was fake. They didn’t know when they first figured it out, but it was different from the others. More showy, perhaps.

The walk to town was largely uninteresting. Sometimes these days they would run into some very unlucky bandits or even a wolf or two, but the forest had long since settled, and Garreg Mach wasn’t terribly far away from a town or two.

Sylvain was even silent, which was a blessing in and of itself, and Sothis was entertaining herself by sticking her hands through his head as if she were trying to read his mind. Finally, she gave up. “This mortal is tricky on the outside. I wished to know if I could attempt to read his mind. Oh!” she huffed, “I can turn back time but I cannot read this fool’s mind!”

Keanu barely stifled a laugh at her.

“I wish I knew what I did to make you laugh. Maybe then my grades would be better.” Slyvain said, rubbing the back of his neck.

Keanu smiled, “perhaps then you should attend some of my classes as well as Yossaria’s. I’m certain being present for the pop quizzes I hand out would be beneficial.”

“Well then, pop quiz Teach.” Sylvain said. “Who do you like?”

“All of my students. I am very fond of them as well as a few of the knights.” Keanu replied, compiling a list of items needed from the town.

Sothis floated in front of Keanu and made the same disappointed face that Sylvain was making.

“Oh, I see. You meant romantically,” Keanu said as it dawned on him. “Hmm. I have no likes of that nature at the moment, Sylvain. Most people I know at the monastery are students. I have reason to believe that dating my students would be wildly inappropriate.”

“So once I graduate I have a chance?” Sylvain asked.

“No. And I cannot speak for my sister. We may look alike and share a birthday, but that doesn’t mean we are the same person.” Keanu chided. The path was opening into town proper, and the noise of the market was breaking into their conversation.

Sothis remained disappointed. “You know that admitting affection for someone is not the same as dating them, Keanu. It is okay to admit that you like-”

“We are nearly there. Sylvain, kindly try to locate more supplies for the kitchen, would you?”

* * *

Yossaria was neck deep in grading pop quizzes when she heard a knock at her door. A moment’s debate between ignoring it to finish or answering. Another knock and Yossaria answered, “coming.”

Yuri looked surprised when he saw that it was Yossaria who answered. He looked around, and composed himself again. “Professor Yossaria. I was hoping that you were in.”

_No you didn’t_ , Yossara thought. “Well then, come on in. I’m grading papers right now, but you’re welcome to ask questions if you’d like.”

“Very well.”

Yuri entered into the room slash office Yossaria worked out of. It was no surprise that Yuri had mixed up their rooms, if he was after talking to Keanu. They were nearly identical and next to each other. Barren of really anything besides a birthday letter sent from the house leaders and other teachers, the two rarely received gifts from students.

“I was wondering... what is your policy on students dating teachers? Surely you have one.” Yuri said as he sat down on the bed.

“I do not. Did Sylvain put you up to this?” Yossaria asked as she settled back in at her desk, correcting a student’s work. They had managed so far to somehow only get their name right.

“No, alas. Though the two of us have each talked about it at length due to Professor Maneula.” He settled in and laid down. Clearly fine with being in a stranger’s room. “Sylvain wants her to hit on him, and yet I am terrified of it happening. I do not want the Abyss to receive any more criticism.”

“I understand why, you’re all barely tolerated. Balthus nearly broke the gatekeeper when he found out that your abysskeeper was lonely.” Yossaria wrinkled her nose at a student who had misspelled the word tactics. Who was this from?

“Well, I suppose that it ultimately solved the problem, though didn’t it?” Yuri laughed. “Don’t worry about Balthus. He just has more heart than sense most of the time.”

“Seems like that’s how it is for most of you.” Yossaria answered. Raphael? No the penmanship was much too neat for that. Finally she flipped the paper over for the name and it was Caspar. Naturally.

“I think I like your brother.”

_Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeccchhhh_.

Yossaria had dragged her chair rapidly across the room, pulling up the carpet in order to sit next to Yuri. “Explain.”

Yuri, startled by Yossaria’s sudden speed, barely made a coherent answer.

“Yuri, I must say that my brother’s policy and my own are the same.” Yossaria sat back in her chair. “I will date students only five years after they graduate. I understand that’s a long time, but it’s to make sure that it is so we may not take advantage of our power over our students. Intentional or otherwise.”

“Oh how romantic. Whatever happened to, ‘throw caution to the wind’?”

“The fact that Manuela is the reason I don’t date students. Not to mention, she’s the reason the rule is in place.” Yossaria said, deapan. “Plus, it really wasn’t her fault. But these guidelines exist to protect students from unfair balance of power. Teachers hold a lot of your futures in our hands.”

“Pfft, I’d like to see you try and change my future.” Yuri flopped down on Yossaria’s bed, spreading out much like a large purple cat.

“I have the Archbishop’s ear, Yuri. Two words and you’re out on your heels, criminal empire or not.” Yossaria stood and drug her chair back to her desk. “Hard to protect Abyss when you can’t set foot in it.”

“Do that you’re dead.” Yuri sat upright, a blade already in hand.

“That’s my point exactly. Let’s say you break up and I do something in retaliation.” Yossaria grabbed the pile of papers and straightened them back out. “Emotions are always a factor that you can never discount. Even the greatest of plans fail if you’re too angry to follow through properly.”

Yuri thought about the discussion as he left, and Yossaria let her hand linger on a quiz from Ashe. He had every answer correct, thought it through and still seemed dissatisfied with a shallow answer for a shallow question.

The Ashen Demon sighed, stretching out before she sunk into the paperwork once more.

* * *

The rest of the time flashed by so quickly. Loss hit like a sharp knife to the gut, betrayal hurt her hands, and every breath she took as she fell into the chasm felt shallower and shallower.

Keanu had tried to grab her but fell just barely too short, their fingers brushing against each other before he too fell in.

_Ah,_ she realized. _So this is the end._

The darkness seemed unending, and unrelenting. She thought about her students exclaiming about her new eye color and her brother’s hair. She thought about how sad they would all be when she died.

“I’m... sorry Sothis...”

Violet petals fluttered as she waited for the impact to finally hit.

At least her mouth would taste of flowers at the end.


	2. Petals Flutter Down

Keanu woke to the feeling of water rushing across his face and the feeling that someone told him to stop sleeping in. He gasped for air as she climbed to the edge of the river, sputtering as though he hadn’t been breathing for a very long time. He coughed up globs of water, but he was alive. He lived through the fall...

Yossaria!

A spike of panic ran through him when he couldn’t find her. Did she die? Keanu got to his feet, unsteady but nothing broken. He called out but his voice was too weak to hear. He had to find her. If he was in this state then what of her? She’d been flung from the cliff by huge monsters.

A groan caught his attention and Keanu staggered his way over to where he heard it. The glimmer of her dark blue hair caught his eye and he was already by her side, shaking her awake. His voice cracked and croaked with panic, barely making a full word.

“You sound... like a frog,” Yossaria said, only barely louder than he was. “I’m okay.”

“Promise?” Keanu asked.

“Promise.” Yossaria stood up and used her brother as a crutch. He leaned on her two, and only by the grace of Sothis were they both upright and staggering along.

It was officially the worst three legged race ever, but the twins managed to stagger to a village. It looked torn up and ravaged from the battle, but it must have settled down while they were asleep, because the fires had long since burnt out.

The villagers came out slowly, trying to see if it was safe enough to help the strangers or if it was a trap of some kind. A man, fearless it seemed, walked out first. He moved quickly to bring the two into the village. They were mostly all right, so they simply took a little bit of food and water.

The villager reminded Keanu of Jeralt a little. It was the hair and beard. Unkempt but tidy. Keanu wistfully thought that his first inclination was never to call Jeralt ‘dad’. Just... Jeralt. But he never seemed to mind. Just another head ruffle and an affectionate ‘kid’.

“I’m surprised we’re seeing anyone washing in that’s alive from that old river. I mean, you all came in that direction and were soaked so I figured...” the man shook his head. “Anyway, what were you doing out there?”

“... The monastery.” Keanu explained carefully, “we teach there. However, it seems like the battle is over. We need to meet back up with our students.”

The air became tense. The man who looked like Jeralt even looked uncomfortable.

“That place has been abandoned for five years. Since the war began.”

Yossaria stood up quickly, but nearly fell back over. A few of the women helped her sit back down.

“That- That’s- It can’t be right. We just... What year is it?” Keanu knew what he wanted to hear. However, he knew that wasn’t what he was about to hear.

“1185.”

No. That wasn’t right. Keanu looked down at his hands. Five years? His hands offered no answers to whether or not that was true.

“We have to find them.” Yossaria said, “the promise.”

Keanu stood up and lent Yossaria a hand to stand up. “You’re right. They... someone might be there.”

With food and water in their bellies, the twins made better headway to the Monastery. The burned out buildings only increased, and the smell of decay and dead bodies only increased as they went into the gates of the monastery. 

Everything was broken and caving in. The monastery had gone through so even when the twins had been there. Now, it was just... empty; save for the howling wind. The twins kept marching on, pushing each other to continue on. Someone had to be here...

“Maybe the Abyssians are still here?” Keanu voiced, more hoping than knowing.

“Maybe they know where the other students are.” Yossaria kept the tears and fears just barely out of her tone. “What if...”

“They’re all okay,” Keanu said, pulling his sister in for a hug with reassurances he didn’t have. “We taught them, after all. If they died I’ll haunt them. Goddess be damned if I don’t.”

“You always swear when you lie...” Yossaria said into his chest. “Remember when Sothis said we had the emotional depth of a puddle?”

“Joke’s on her, turns out we were just keeping our depths hidden.”

Dimitri breezed by the pair, barely acknowledging them.

“Dimitri!” Yossaria called and grabbed the Prince’s cloak.

However, what turned around was not a Prince so much as a husk of a monster. Fresh blood splattered his face, still dripping down. Ugly scars crept out from under the eyepatch, and there was no humanity in the one remaining.

“Di...mitri?” Yossaria asked.

“Mm. Haunting me now, too?” Dimitri grunted. “so be it, then.”

The Prince then turned and walked further into the monastery, dragging his lance behind him.

“Well. Guess time hasn’t been kind to him, has it?” Keanu said, his joking tone masking the pain.

  
  


The twins continued to wait.

Hours passed before either spoke again. No one magically appeared, and their imaginations went wild. Then again, if the war lasted five years... and they were on the front lines...

“We failed them all.” Yossaria said.

“We-”

“Weren’t there. We weren’t there and no look at Dimitri. He’s broken.” Yossaria coughed into her lap. Petals fluttered down, and Yossaria quickly moved a hand over the violet petals. “We broke him.”

Keanu had no response to that. They sat in silence for a time, watching the sun set. However, from the glare of the sun, a figure emerged and started walking towards the monastery. The twins leapt into action, pulling their respective swords. The Sword of the Creator glowed faintly in the dimming light.

“Professors?” a familiar voice called out, half stunned and half amazed.

Yossaria stood down, tears in her eyes. There was no mistaking that silver hair and green eyed knight. The sword clattered to the ground as she leapt to hug him tightly. Her grip almost crushed the poor boy. She thought she even heard a wheeze when she squeezed just a bit tighter to be sure it was really him.

“I can’t.... Breathe... Professor...” Ashe managed to say around the bear hug Yossaria was giving him.

She loosened her grip, but didn’t let go until moment later, when she seemed to have had enough.

“You’re okay.” Yossaria said, beaming with joy.

“Ahem,” Keanu coughed. “No love for your other Professor, Ashe? I promise not to crush any ribs this time.” he winked, and Yossaria wondered where he got that sass from.

“Oh, of course, but the others were just behind me, so don’t go overboard, okay?” Ashe replied, rubbing the back of his neck.

“The... others?” Yossaria asked.

“Well, of course the whole class made it back, Professors. You made sure we could go through anything and survive. Besides, if any of us died I was certain that something terrible might happen...” Ashe laughed.

“Goddess be damned, we did. Besides, if we died we’d be scarier than any other ghosts. You’re our students. Well actually,” Keanu said looking to the side, “it’s been five years since graduation hasn’t it? I’m not sure how I feel about that.”

“Yeah,” Yossaria said. “We kinda did... sleep that entire time?”

“What?” Ashe asked.

Keanu sighed and put a hand to his head, as if to ease a headache. “I have no idea either.”

The reunion was short but sweet. Keanu and Yossaria were both nearly crushed under the weight of their students’ hugs and exclamations of joy. Those five years had really taken a toll on them, hadn’t it?

Yossaria waited for the commotion to die down.

“Dimitri is alive.” her words were tense, but necessary. The crowd looked struck dumb by the revelation. Those years had been harder than she’d thought. “But... I’m not sure he even thinks we,” Yossaria pointed to herself and Keanu, “are real. He has yet to talk to us, but we haven’t been here long.”

  
  


“Well,” Mercedes said. “I suppose it’s good to know he’s alive, at least.”

Keanu said, “but we can’t be sure how stable he is.”

Yossaria also remembered the tomb. “However, we’ve gabbed long enough. We linger out in the open too long, we might attract Imperial attention.” she waved the group inside, towards the dining hall.

* * *

Once they settled, Keanu split off to find the Abyssians. He went alone for three reasons; the first being that Yossaria never really cared about that group as much as he did, and second, if they saw the Sword of the Creator glowing in the dark... there might be a scuffle.

The third reason was that he wanted to check on Yuri. He coughed and adjusted his collar at the thought, but the third reason was certainly unrelated to that tickle in his throat.

Completely unrelated.

The lantern barely pierced the darkness, and Keanu felt like he was just fumbling in the dark. Luckily, the map he drew five years ago hadn’t been completely ruined. Sure, Abyss was not officially mapped and if Yuri knew about the map, it would be burned, but it was worth it. If not for this trip, for making sure he no longer had to rely on that shady merchant to lead him down to Abyss.

Abyss had a calming effect on him somehow too, like he knew he was going to be alright, even if he got lost. Maybe that was just that he knew Yuri made regular patrols.

The itch in his throat grew, but he managed to suppress a cough.

He’d have to see about getting Manuela back in the monastery if he was coming down with something. War was no time to get sick.

Just as Keanu went to rub his throat, he felt the edge of a blade being held against it.

“Identify yourself.”

Yuri’s voice! Keanu suppressed a smile. “Well, I suppose I’m getting all kinds of greetings today.”

“Ah, Professor.” Yuri said, with only faint surprise. “I should have figured you’d survive. It is good to see you.”

Keanu was taken aback by the lack of emotion from Yuri. Sure, he was the type of guy who played his cards close to his chest and also had a few aces up his sleeve, but... “Well, if it’s really good to see me, please remove the sword...”

“Sorry about that. Can’t be too careful these days.” He removed the blade and sheathed it in one fluid motion. “Well, I suppose we can’t keep the others waiting, can we?”

Yuri turned on his heel and started leading Keanu towards Abyss. However, Keanu could swear he heard the  _ clack _ of a medicine vial as Yuri turned.

“Professor, don’t fall behind.” Yuri said, and reached into his pocket, and pulled out a small bottle of small pills. “Oh, this? Medicine. I developed... a condition after you disappeared. It’s manageable.”

“Do you want me to contact Manuela to make sure you are kept up on your medicine?” Keanu said, putting a hand on Yuri’s shoulder.

Yuri brushed his hand off. “Thank you. Manuela distributed these originally, so she should still know the recipe.”

“I... see.” Keanu said. “Are you okay? You seem... off.”

“On the contrary. I feel great. We need to get back. The others are waiting, and I’m sure they’ll be happy to hear that you are alive and well.”

* * *

Yossaria was hunched over her desk again. Drawing up plans, then throwing them away, then starting again. One time she had to stop because the coughing became untenable. She’d put Ashe on the front lines and she worried about him going out there alone.

But of course he’d want to help however he could. Even if that meant putting himself in danger. However, as an archer he was best suited to backline work.

The petals weren’t complete flowers, but she had a creeping sense they would be soon. No matter how much she wanted them gone, they signified that she lo... lo... liked one of her students. Even if he wasn’t a student anymore...

A cough racked her, lasting upwards of a minute and leaving even more petals.

Violets. She once grew them in the greenhouse, and Ashe mentioned that they were his favorite. Yossaria had incorrectly identified them as pansies.

Yossaria sighed.

“What am I going to do...?” she mumbled to herself.

Sure, she could tell him pure and simple. Solve the problem in a direct way. But...

Her face turned bright red and she had to stuff it down through shame. That was her student! Sure, they were about the same age... but how does one even approach that topic?

She smiled as she remembered the thief at the market. How proud he sounded to have paid that thief. As a mercenary, she’d never seen that genuine kindness before. It had always been money and new faces streaming in and out.

She never knew that anyone could be kind just because they could be.

This time, an entire flower fell onto her desk. A tiny periwinkle flower surrounded by pansy petals.

Yossaria suppressed the urge to yell a very inappropriate word.

“Inner turmoil, eh?” a drawling voice trying to sound bored asked. 

Yossaria stood and turned so quickly that her chair fell over, but there was no one there. Not even a certain green haired goblin menace. She slumped back down onto the floor.

Just as she picked the perfect spot to stare dejectedly at, the familiar pink and white ribbon tied headdress drifted up from the floor.

“I’m bending a lot of rules to be here, so you better appreciate it. Especially since,” Sothis said, rushing through the rest of the floor to do a loop de loop in the air, ending with a flair, “you oh so long for my presence.”

Yossaria’s left eye lost its glow, but she still felt Sothis in the room... there with her because of Ashe and her struggles.

Sothis ruffled Yossaria’s hair, tossing it back and forth. “I learned a few new tricks, too. I could explain it, but essentially I’m possessing you. Just a little bit! While I could take over... that seems... unneccessary.” Sothis floated back and moved to lay in the air. “You have low standards for a mate, you know.”

Yossaria’s face turned bright red. Yep, that was Sothis, reading her thoughts without permission.

“So, you’ve asked a goddess for advice on... romance.” Sothis sounded vastly unimpressed. “Still,” she said. “I suppose I did answer your call.”

Slowly, Yossaria realized she could no longer see out of her left eye. It felt strange, to know the physical eye was hers, but being borrowed by Sothis.

“So,” Sothis said, ignoring Yossaria’s growing panic. “Have you told him you like him?”

* * *

Keanu woke up hours later in Abyss, a violent headache racing through the left side of his head.

“Woah,” a redheaded and dark skinned woman said, gently pushing Keanu back down.

He wasn’t even aware when he had sat up.

“You collapsed,” Hapi explained. “Yuri was quite upset.” then under her breath she added, “or as upset as he  _ can _ be these days, anyway.” she continued on in her usual volume, “is the whole look shifting thing going to be something we get to see every day or what?”

Keanu’s hair color was back to blue, with a deep green streak through it, and his left eye was green, but simultaneously Keanu realized that he could no longer see through it.

“I don’t understand,” Keanu said, closing his left eye in the hopes of easing his massive headache. It did not.

“You and me both, Chatterbox.” Hapi almost audibly suppressed the sigh that she desperately wanted to do.

“Well,” Keanu soldiered on, “how is everything down here in Abyss?  _ You _ look well, at least.”

“Well, that’s probably because I am basically calling in evey monster in the entire area to come fight off Imperial troops.” Hapi stretched, catlike and content. “But we need to talk about Yuri first.”

“We... do?”

“Yeah. He absolutely cannot go back on his meds. I’m pretty sure they’re killing him.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I break canon because I wanted Sothis back?
> 
> Maybe.
> 
> Did I add her in to make drama?
> 
> Absolutely.


	3. Choking Flowers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter warning for mentions of a serious burn injury.

It was chaos, the blur of bodies moving as both an army and a separate set of people.

And in the middle of it all, Ashe watched Yossaria slash and chop and cast magic into the fray. She was truly worthy of the name ‘Ashen Demon’. Her expression never flinched, even once. Ashe nocked an arrow, levelling it at a mage who was beginning a magic circle. Even as he pulled the arrow back, Ashe was already starting a small prayer for the enemy mage. Ashe aimed for the heart, waiting until the right moment, high above the action.

He exhaled and the arrow flew through the air. His bright blue arrow feathers sprouted from the chest of the mage, and he wondered if they had any family.

“I’m sorry.” Ashe said, watching Yossaria turn to see the fallen mage.

If he had done nothing, whatever the spell was could have hurt Yossaria. But... also he had to kill people just to survive. It wasn’t really fair, was it?

Yossaria was yelling something, but Ashe couldn’t make it out amid the chaos of the battlefield. She was... pointing? Somewhere behind him? He turned to look, and as he did, a streak of lightning  _ swooshed _ past his ear, and nailing a dark clothed man with a dagger so full of poison, it was pooling around the dagger on the ground.

Ashe paled at the prospect of how close he had come to having that dagger in his back.

While he was turned to look at the body, Yossaria was stifling a coughing fit, with little violet petals fluttering between her fingers. Of course, Ashe was busy already spotting another creeping shadow coming up on him.

Swapping to his mini bow, Ashe tried to carefully move away from the shadow towards Yossaria’s position. He carefully tried to not slip, but he couldn’t take the risk that Yossaria would hit the next one.

Ashe nocked the arrow again, but his hands trembled. There was a real chance that he could die here.

The stillness in the air only preluded the shadowy form leaping from the rubble of the monastery and throwing a fireball at point blank range. Ashe’s arrow that he’d loosed was only burned up in the firey mass as it flew towards him.

It nailed him square in the chest, knocking him off his feet and over the cliff he’d been using as a vantage point. So he really was going to die here, then.

The fall felt like it took forever. The worst part was that he didn’t register any pain. He should feel some, right? He could see the burnt remnants of his shirt and armor, scattering cinders in the breeze. Breathing was a little difficult, he thought. But really he expected his death to be worse, somehow.

Dying in an alley because he picked the wrong pocket. Watching everyone be wiped out before Edelgard came for him with that axe.

The fall stopped suddenly. Dark blue hair drifted into his vision, and he was suddenly going up.

“Pro...fessor...?” Ashe said.

She brushed the hair out of his face, using a small healing spell as she did so. He felt better... and also worse. His chest flared with pain as nerves revived. He thought he cried out, but he wasn’t sure. It was all so far away.

She put him down once they were back on the cliff again, and Ashe realized that she didn’t have her sword. The glowing weapon was gone. Had she dropped it to save him...?

He closed his eyes before he saw what became of the mage. Passerbys commented on the red splotch on the monastery’s wall. Claw marks were dug in deep, and people whispered that it had been the Ashen Demon.

They said the Ashen Demon looked more like a Dragon than a demon. A dragon that breathed pansies and violets instead of fire.

```

Manuela thought for sure that she’d die on her feet of sheer exhaustion after that battle. She’d only barely arrived before things got out of hand, much like always. She was running back and forth and while her dress and cloak was comfortable...

She admittedly threw it on the floor where it had promptly been stained by blood from the patient she had been working on. Still, cloak or a life... no question. She didn’t learn medicine and healing magics because she thought it was easy.

However, it wasn’t easy to round the corner and see a panicked Yossaria covered in blood and carrying Ashe, who had a large burn mark on his chest, still burning. Manuela suppressed a wince when she saw that sliver of white sticking out from the burned flesh. Yossaria didn’t look much better, dripping blood of unknown origin. It was hard to tell where she’d been cut underneath all of it, honestly.

“Over here!” Manuela cleared a table, throwing everything to the floor.

Yossaria obeyed, but her hands kept pulsing magic, even as it drained her. “There was a fireball.. I- a mage-”

Manuela was already adding her magic to Yossaria’s and the worst of the skin knit over the burn, but they were already both at their limit.

“I need the burn kit. Second shelf, third from right.” Manuela hoped that would distract Yossaria long enough that Manuela could start the medicinal treatment and block Yossaria from wasting more energy to heal something that reached its limit.

She quickly doused the large wound in the cleaning solution and began setting up bandages in record time. By the time she finished, she realized that Yossaria was hacking up a lung in the corner where she’d been asked to fetch the burn kit.

“Professor, are you hit as well?” Manuela started to walk over to investigate, but Yossaria put up a hand to stop her.

“I’m fine.”Yossaria lied. Manuela didn’t stop, however, and saw the stack of petals and flowers at the other woman’s feet.

“Hanahaki...” Manuela said, breathless. “You... hang on, I have some medicine to stop the coughing.”

A short scramble later, Yossaria was downing the small pills with tea. Manuela sighed at the rookie professor.

“This is why I disliked that rule...” she shook her head and refilled the teacup. “While I agree students and teachers shouldn’t date, forbidding it has only increased my cases of hanahaki. Students know this, so when they inevitably get a crush on their teachers, they know it’s one-sided... Stupid Hanneman, he knew that I was better than that, but he laid it at my feet like it was my fault!”

“... tastes like fertilizer...” Yossaria croaked out.

“Well, there’s some herbicide in there. Plus something to numb the throat and... deaden emotion.” Manuela sighed. “I dislike giving it out, but...”

“I’ll need more,” Yossaria said. “He... I feel ashamed to admit that I like him in that way. I feel like a failure of a teacher.”

Manuela rubbed the bridge of her nose, trying to contain her annoyance. “Well, I suppose that I’ll let you have some, but only for a month. After that, you must deal with it.”

“Why a month? That seems like a short time.”

“Well, people aren’t meant to eat herbicide, my dear. And suppressed emotions doesn’t mean they aren’t there. After a year of taking the medicine, people start having.... Nasty side effects.”

```

Keanu watched over Ashe in Yossaria’s stead. The silver haired boy was still asleep, resting to regain energy. He sighed, seeing a stray petal on the floor.

He thought back to the conversation he had weeks before...

_ “Yeah. He absolutely cannot go back on his meds. I’m pretty sure they’re killing him.” _

_ “Thank you. Manuela distributed these originally, so she should still know the recipe.” _

“Sorry, Ashe. I have ulterior motives.” Keanu said, standing up to start wandering the infirmary. It was a small room, so as long as Manuela was out -and she would be out for a while, he said a prayer for the knight he sent to distract her- he had free run of the place.

He opened and searched through numerous bottles and jars... but he had no idea what he was looking for. He sighed.

“Maybe a certain goddess can go looking for you?” Sothis asked, laying on one of the few spare beds. “I know what you’re looking for~”

“Yes, you read my mind I know this,” Keanu mumbled to her.

“Well, a certain someone got a bottle earlier... looked pretty similar to what you’re looking for.” Sothis practically preened, eager for praise.

“Ashe got a bottle?” Keanu asked. “What’s the medicine for?”

Sothis immediately started to sweat, “sniffles. Bad, bad case of the sniffles.”

Keanu stared blankly at her.

“Fine, it was for hanahaki.” Sothis floated over above the boy. “Bad case. Hacking up all the forget-me-nots in the vicinity. Poor mortal.” she patted his head, accidentally causing her hand to go through his head. “Though, there’s a catch. If he’s on the medicine for more than a month, apparently side effects start happening.”

Keanu bit his lip. Did Yuri have hanahaki? If so, for whom?

“Oh,” Sothis said, floating close. “Are you worried for a certain lavender haired mortal?”

“He’s my student, it’s only natural.”

“Is it?” Sothis asked. “I wonder if he ever followed through on his promise to add you to his list of people to remember.”

Keanu felt heat rising to his cheeks, but tried to keep a straight face. “I think he did. But... he does that for everyone in his organization. No, I don’t have special treatment.”

Sothis’ tiny smile of mischief grew. However, she kept quiet.

Keanu could only suppress his annoyance that she’d managed to get a rise out of him. Now she definitely knew something and he’d rather focus on the task at hand.

“He’s waking up.” Sothis reported, “better get back to looking like a warden. I do  _ so  _ enjoy our talks though...”

Kean rolled his eyes and sat down by Ashe’s bed. 

“Were you... talking with someone, Professor?” Ashe asked, “I thought I heard another voice.”

“Did he hear me?” Sothis asked, hovering just out of sight of Ashe. “How spooky.”

Ashe still seemed out of it, and mumbled, “ ‘s not spooky...” he soon fell asleep again, clearly having used up all his meager energy for the short conversation.

Keanu lost all color in his already pale face.

“Oh. This could be interesting,” Sothis laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's not a story unless Sothis decides to be annoying and play cupid. What else does a bored Goddess have to do? Nap?
> 
> No time for that when you can meddle with these weird mortals you're bound to!


	4. Suppressed Emotions

Hapi was busy coming back from the food stores. She sometimes added wild berries and things she had foraged, but mostly she liked to steal the jelly tarts. She was just mainly happy that when she went for jelly tarts, she didn’t have to deal with a medicated heartbroken fool.

She remembered when Yuri had come back from that meeting with Professor Yossaria five years ago, how he had pretty much kept up his mask flawlessly... until he started choking up primrose petals. 

That was the start of it all. The medicine... the days of a listless and empty eyed Yuri.

Sure, he was still brilliant, but sometimes he would forget little things... like empathy.

“Hapi?” Constance’s voice called. “Why are you here- oh I see.”

“Coco? Oh, I was just thinking about stuff. Sometimes I need a break, but it seems to have followed me into the pantry....” Hapi suppressed yet another sigh on top of the pile that was steadily growing every time she thought about Yuri’s situation.

“I understand. You don’t even need to say it, I understand all too well.” Constance sighed for them both. “I wish he’d stop being stubborn.”

“Well, Chatterbox Prime I told a few weeks ago, but he’s busy in the infirmary right now. I didn’t tell him what the medicine was for, but it’s pretty distinct.” Hapi stuffed an entire tart in her mouth.

“Well, he’s the problem to begin with!” Constance yelled, tired. “If Yuri would get off his high horse and actually-”

“Mmmff fmm da prmffrom doh,” Hapi replied. Constance’s glare caused her to swallow the rest of the tart and try again. “That’s not the problem though, Coco. Problem is that those stupid pills have addled his brain enough that he can’t _feel_ anything.”

“Well, that’s the problem with hanahaki, Hapi. In order to cure it, you need medicine that soothes the cough and flowers, yes, but the root of the problem is the brain interacting with your crest in a way that-”

“Coco. I don’t really care about crest stuff like you. Simple words, please.”

“Basically, with Yuri his crest reacted sympathetically with his emotions, and started growing flowers to keep the emotions more manageable. However, crests don’t affect the mind. So instead of soothing the emotions, the panic only causes the flowers to keep growing until you directly address the problem.”

Hapi stopped paying attention after the word ‘sympathetic. The jelly tarts were strawberry mainly, but she also liked the boisenberry ones too.

“So he just needs to confess his crush on the Chatterbox Prime?” Hapi summarized, having perfected her line so long ago.

“Well, five years ago that wasn’t possible...” Constance said, looking away. “Quite hard to confess to a corpse, I fear.”

“But he can now, right? What’s stopping him, then?” Hapi asked, considering going to grab more tarts.

“The medicine, ironically enough. He... he can’t feel the panic of dying anymore. Which means he has the emotions suppressed so deeply he... he can’t feel them anymore.” 

“Oh yeah,” Hapi stretched. “Bummer. Well, time to make Chatterbox Prime ‘fess up first, then.”

Hapi turned on her heel and started heading towards the infirmary until Constance grabbed her arm.

“You mustn’t! I’m not sure Professor Keanu even _has_ any feelings towards Yuri. No, we have something we must do first.” Constance said, smiling. “And I have the perfect plan, of course.”

“You do that, then.” Hapi said, redirecting towards the pantry instead. However, Constance stopped her yet again.

“Hapi, I need your help to pull off this perfect plan of mine.”

Hapi did not like the wicked grin that Constance was wearing. Not even a little.

“Fine, but can I at least grab one more tart for the road?”

“Only if you grab me one as well, dear Hapi.”

* * *

Ashe spent a week in the infirmary, and it was only tolerable for the sheer volume of tales that Yossaria brought for him to read while waiting for the burns to heal. Sometimes in the night, he thought he saw someone, but when he called out, no one answered. So he learned to ignore the weird rustlings in the night. Well, he kinda did, anyway.

It was another restless night reading by candle, praying he didn’t drip on the library books or singe them in some way. 

“Mortal.”

Ashe jumped, both agitating his injury and losing the book he was reading.

“Mortal, this is no time for fear. Rejoice.” the ghost was of a green haired child dressed in formal clothing. “For I have come to bless you with true love!”

Ashe screamed.

“No-” the child said, trying to block his mouth with her ghostly hands. “Stop that. You will wake the other injured.”

It was too late, because Manuela -who was blessedly dressed in nightclothes- ran in, magic prepared to fire. She was ready to attack, but her eyes slid right past the strange child and she stood down. Ashe stared at the ghost, and was slowly realizing that he was inside a ghost story.

“Ashe? Why were you screaming?” Manuela asked. “... was it a nightmare?”

“Oh,” Ashe said dumbly. “Yes. It was... just a nightmare.”

“That;s not very nice to call someone, you know.” the ghost said. “Here I am, here to help and you call me a nightmare. Mortals are so rude.”

“Well,” Manuela continued as if she couldn’t hear the child. She probably couldn’t. Ashe hated every aspect of this ghost story. “If you need medicine to help you sleep, I have some, but you look better already. Please yell if you need anything. I’ll be awake now, anyway.”

Ashe awkwardly laughed, “Sorry Professor Manuela.”

“Don’t forget that I’m also here if you need me to talk. Nightmares happen to everyone, and this has been... a trying time. So I wouldn’t blame you for having a few more skeletons in the closet than before.” Manuela finished speaking, then bowed out of the room, possibly wandering around the academy to find a drink.

“Mortal, now we may speak, but I absolutely must ask you to refrain from screaming yet again.” the child was making demands now. Ashe laid back down, running his hands through his hair in order to wake himself up.

“Very well, you mentioned love?” Ashe asked. He was so tired, and here he was, possessed. “True love? That sounds unbelievable to me, and I read knight’s tales for fun.”

“I am Sothis,” the ghost claimed. She floated up and did a small spin as if she was doing that to prove her point. “And I have decided to aid you in your mortal affairs of falling in love.”

“Why?” Ashe asked before he fully processed the question. “I mean, is this... your final dying wish to help someone fall in love?”

‘Sothis’ sighed. “I suppose that could be the lie that makes this work out...” she mumbled. “Very well, it is my most urgent wish that you find true love.”

“Wait,” Ashe said. “Me? But I’m not in love with anyone.”

“Our first step is critical. You must fake hanahaki.” Sothis said. “That’s easy, just grab some petals and I even know where some medicine is stored.”

“That’s... that’s a disease for people with crests. I don’t have a crest.” Ashe was confused. What point was there in faking hanahaki? Everyone would know that he didn’t have it because of the fact that he had no crest, making the lie pointless.

Sothis stopped in her tracks. “Shoot. I had forgotten that. Well, I suppose he still bought it...”

“Who?” Ashe asked.

“The other mortal I am helping fall in love. I was appointed by the goddess herself to help foolish mortals fall in love!” Sothis said this as if he was trying to convince herself, rather than Ashe.

“How many mortals are you trying to make fall in love, exactly?” Ashe asked.

“Just four, at the moment. However, they’re all stubborn, so you are going to be my agent!” Sothis laughed. “You will help me make them all fall in love, and I promise to reward you handsomely.”

“With true love?” Ashe asked. This ghost was losing the plot. Clearly, she had forgotten she had promised him true love too.

“Of course!” Sothis declared. “My plan will be flawless, and with an eye on the monastery, nothing could be more perfect.”

“Well, I might as well. Things have been pretty miserable of late,” Ashe said, raising a hand to his bandages.

Sothis sobered up, raising a hand as if she was going to heal then lowered it. “Do not worry. However, we only have three weeks before something terrible starts happening to one of the four mortals. Our connection is not as deep, but I hope that it will grow deeper soon.”

* * *

“Professor! There’s a monster outside of the monastery!” Constance said as she came running down the hall. “Yuri’s gone to take care of it, but there’s no one else out there!”

Keanu didn’t waste a moment to dart out of the hall into the fray.

Constance stood back and admired the cogs of her perfect plan beginning to turn. She smiled, content.

“You’re mean, Coco.” Hapi said, walking in from the shadowed corner she’d been waiting in. “I mean, you set a monster on the monastery in order to make Yuri-Bird and Chatterbox Prime spend time together.”

“Well, those two only take the war seriously. Certainly, putting those two side by side in battle would ignite feelings, and then we nurture it by forcing them to have dinner toge- Hapi where are you going?”

* * *

Yuri could feel the thorns in his throat as he breathed hard. He had been about to take his medicine when Constance burst in and said that there was a monster threatening the monastery and that she’d meet him there once she’d gathered her steed.

Now he was out here facing down a giant doll-like creature clicking and turning towards him without his medicine and he was barely able to focus. His sword felt heavy in his hands, but he was afraid if he breathed too hard then he’d inhale a thorn. Darned roses.

The monster advanced, clicking closer to him and Yuri felt his back against the wall.

He should feel fear at this. Frightened of dying.

But even skipping one dose no longer mattered. Emotions as weak as that were gone. Hapi would be upset at him if he admitted it, and he’d sooner swallow glass than admit his pride. Well, Yuri thought as the spear of light was lifted up, at least his end would be quick.

However, it never came. Instead, a charging bull of a professor came charging headlong at it, snapping the sword he was using in half to turn the lance away. Yuri could only stare on at amazement at Keanu.

“What did you think you were doing?” Keanu yelled, his mood immediately turning sour. “There’s no way you could do this on your own.”

“I wasn’t-”

“Then why didn’t you wait,” Keanu accused. “We’re far enough away that you had time to go out in force!”

“This really isn’t the time-” Yuri said, but interrupted by the golem, who had decided that rather than listen to the bickering it was going to impale them both.

Keanu turned on his heel and wielded the sword he’d brought out, before realizing that he had broken it in half with his heroic entrance. As he was realizing this, Yuri had already acted, tackling Keanu down and letting the lance scream over their heads.

“You’re not allowed to tell me about being reckless.” Yuri said, propping himself up over Keanu. Yuri had to suppress a blush as he was propped over Keanu and scrambled back. Stupid pills were supposed to stop that sort of embarrassment. The thorns grew a little and made it more painful to breathe, but thankfully it wasn’t much worse.

“We...” Keanu said as he stood up and watched the golem start to make another move. “Will discuss this later. For now, we have higher priorities.”

“Indeed,” Yuri replied, preparing a spell as he handed over his sword.

Keanu took it without a word, but was preparing a spell in his free hand. “When we get back, I’m going to get you to explain your actions.”

The battle was harsh, but Yuri kept Keanu going with healing spells while they chipped away at the golem’s health. The two worked beautifully in tandem, alternating attacks when needed and stalling just enough to get reinforcements to arrive. Yuri wasn’t going to admit it, but he was grateful that Keanu had arrived.

He thought about the moment he fell in love with the man, but his breath hitched on thorns and he pushed the thought away. He needed his medicine, and soon. 

No point in reminiscing anyway.

* * *

Yossaria was sleeping in the garden, piles of maps and tactics books piled high around her. Ashe and Sylvain were watching from the threshold, the sunlight gently filtering in over their dear professor. She looked so peaceful, even if the bandages on her face reminded him of the injury he had received. 

Ashe coughed and drew Sylvain’s attention back towards the important mission that they were there for. He wasn’t distracted too. Yeah. He certainly wasn’t. He definitely wasn’t thinking about how safe he’d felt when she caught him in her arms. Nope.

“So, you want me to flirt... with the Professor.” Sylvain said, trying to suppress the tone of curiosity in his voice. “That... that feels weird, Ashe. I mean, I’ve flirted with her in the past, but if I make her mad...” Sylvain winced.

“There is nothing to be lost if there is nothing gained!” Sothis said, floating over Ashe’s shoulder. “Tell him to go forth and we might figure out who Yossaria is in love with!”

“There’s a...” Ashe glanced at Sothis as he figured out his lie. It wasn’t a lie exactly he mentally corrected. “There’s a soldier in the army that Yossaria likes. We... uh me and Ingrid,” Ashe mentally noted that he’d need to talk to Ingrid later, “heard that rumor.”

Sylvain raised an eyebrow at Ashe’s clumsy lie, but didn’t push him on it. “And you want me to flirt... to figure out who it is?”

“Yes. I think you and the professor are very close. You... don’t have to flirt. I never said flirt, even.”

“Got it. Flirt until I figure out who she likes.” Sylvain said, giving a wink before walking off towards the sleeping professor.

“That mortal is truly stupid. Or cunning. I am not sure which, and that’s more frightening than someone like that... Prince? Is that his title?” Sothis asked, watching Sylvain wake the professor by startling her, which somehow ended up with him in a headlock.

“Ah, Prince Dimitri?” Ashe asked as Sylvain tried to pat at the Professor’s face in vain to try and get her to let go. “I don’t know about that. At least you know Sylvain will still have your back if he spots Edelgard on the battlefield.”

The Professor had finally let go of Sylvain, finally realizing who she had grabbed. “Also true, but what do you think he is actually thinking at any given time?” Sothis countered, looking like she wanted to somehow help the other pair.

“Girls? I mean, he’s probably better at talking to girls than I am. Sometimes girls talk to me in town and I manage to make small talk, but I’m always embarrassed.” Ashe said, wondering what Yossaria and Sylvain were talking about now. It was hard to tell now that Sylvain’s back was to Sothis and Ashe.

“Are you jealous?” Sothis asked as Yossaria looked annoyed at Sylvain.

Ashe thought about that curling snake in his stomach watching the two talk in the garden. They looked so good together, and Sylvain laughed at something the Professor said and Yossaria caught Ashe’s eyes on her. “Not really. I’m just happy to help out however I can.”

Yossaria looked away quickly, as if she hadn’t meant to look and returned to the conversation. Ashe wondered why she had looked away so quickly.

“Really? Because you’re staring awfully hard for someone who is ‘not really’ jealous of Sylvain right now,” Sothis said.

Ashe tore his eyes off of the other pair and he stiffened up and blushed red from his ears to his toes. “We were talking about Sylvain flirting with girls, not about him flirting with Yossaria.”

Sothis smiled and floated back, carefully trying to get a good view on what was happening.

Ashe decided to move to sitting by the lake, instead of watching the conversation any further. Not because he was jealous or anything, which he for sure wasn’t, but because Sothis was teasing him so much. Ashe wondered if Yossaria liked flowers and that was why she was in the garden. He wondered if she liked violets too.

He recalled the time when she said pansies were violets and smiled towards the lake.


	5. Hidden Medicine

Constance set the silverware on the table as if that was going to change the whole aura of the mess hall. It had to be perfect. Yes, if she was going to get both Keanu and Yuri together alone for dinner, she had to make sure everything was set up. Constance had also set up a feast in the courtyard that everyone heard about... except for Yuri and Keanu.

The table was decorated the way that she had imagined all the ones in her novels had been set up. Of course, she could never tell Hapi her plan revolved around a romantic novel’s plot, but that wouldn’t be hard.

Constance knew she read, but she never seemed very interested in romance. Hopefully, Hapi remained content to simply read basic peasant fiction.

“I can’t believe that both Chatterbox Prime and Yuri-bird are going to fall for your cheap ploy. You’re lucky neither of them have read ‘The Archbishop of Our Hearts’,” Hapi said in her usual bored tone.

“I- I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Constance said, her ears turning bright red. “This is a completely original plan that has absolutely nothing to do with whatever it was that you said.”

“Sure, Coco,” Hapi said, suppressing a laugh. “Both are on their way here, so we should clear out before they spot us.”

“No,” Constance said, preening. “My perfect plan has to be observed carefully. We shall be posing as kitchen staff tonight!”

“...,” Hapi looked on in silence.

“Do not look upon me as if I am unable to act the part! I’ll have you know that I am the finest chef in my entire family.” Constance said, full of fake confidence.

“You’re... the only one in your family, Coco. I can take over most of the actual cooking. Just... peel potatoes or something.”

* * *

Constance had invited him out on an extremely rare invitation to taste some new kitchen dish, so Keanu had a hard time saying no. He was behind on work and Yossaria had taken it all upon herself again to do it all for them both. Again.

He wondered if he should ask Constance about how Yuri was doing after the battle. Keanu cleared his throat, feeling a little tickle. He decided to hurry to the dinner, as he was already running late. Why had Yuri blushed like that? He had never reacted to Keanu like that before. 

He softly smiled at the memory.

Keanu hurried along to meet with Constance. Surely she had ideas on what Hapi had mentioned before. With all the medicine stuff and the doom and gloom. Hapi said that the pills he was taking had severe side effects, but they seemed to ebb and flow. Still, he was glad he dressed up for this. It was just simple clothes, but he was rarely out of armor these days. Maybe the dinner would be a nice change of pace, no serious Yuri talk required.

He walked up to the mess hall door and noticed it was shut. That was odd, they hardly ever closed it off. They’d rather be out an arm and a leg than miss out on feeding people.

Keanu not-so-fondly remembered trying to skip a meal. The nuns were cruel with those rulers. 

Which meant something was going on. However, Constance was insistent that he had to be there, so maybe she had done something so that they would be alone? If this was about that medicine Yuri was taking... then perhaps it would be best to discuss it out of earshot. Not to mention that Sothis had said it was for hanahaki. Which was strange, considering that Ashe had been taking it.

He pushed forward into the mess hall, expecting a solemn table filled with some light food and tea.

Instead, what greeted him was a wide assortment of cutlery, candles, and plates stacked three high. Glasses of water had been put on the table with some ice clinking inside. It looked closer to a dinner with the Archbishop herself. Not to mention, his dinner companion was not Constance, but Yuri.

The two stared at each other in silence.

Keanu was busy trying to reason out what was happening, when he caught a glimpse of Constance peeking over the kitchen counter before a dark skinned hand pushed Constance’s head back down and out of sight.

He wasn’t sure if Yuri had caught on yet, but knowing that he was one of the most observant people Keanu had ever met and Constance’s plan was about as subtle as a brick to the face. Yeah, he noticed, Keanu thought as he went to sit down.

“So,” Keanu said. “Is this your doing or...”

Yuri’s eyes quickly flicked to the counter where Constance was hiding, then back at Keanu. “Yes.”

Keanu blinked in surprise. “Oh. Is this... a date?”

Yuri seemed to mull it over for a moment. “Only if you want it to be. This can just be dinner.”

“Yuri, I...” Keanu thought about it. “Making this a date is... I can’t agree to dating you. Not right now. You understand, right?”

“You know about the medicine.” Yuri answered, uneering in his response. “I... if I had much left to feel by now, I would be overwhelmed.”

“That’s why, Yuri.” Keanu said. “I can’t let you hurt yourself like this any longer.” Keanu reached forward to grab Yuri’s hand. “Please. I ask you to be off the medicine for another week and try again.” Keanu smiled. “But please, don’t pretend you planned this. Constace clearly stole it from  _ Heart of the Archbishop _ . You would be more clever than that.”

A squawk of complaint from behind the counter was silenced no doubt by Hapi.

“Would I be now?” Yuri smiled. “Well, if you’re issuing me a challenge... how can I say no. However, recognize that week I will be... well, ill is too mild a word, isn’t it?”

“Well, I suppose that I’ll have to be a shoulder to lean on then, won’t I?” Keanu said, smiling.

“No, I don’t want you around when I’m ill. I promise you, that would make it worse.”

* * *

Yossaria was sleeping, peacefully even. For once during this war, she slept well. Even knowing it was before such a huge battle, she was content. Still, the fear felt like she could see it laying on the floor, but she could kick it away easily. Even thinking ‘Ashe could get hurt again’ was such a far away thought that all she did was adjust her blankets.

“Yossaria.” Sothis said, poking the sleeping form of Yossaria. She was even making contact, which now that she had more sources of draw from, Sothis could do little things. “Mortal.”

Yossaria pulled the sheets over her head.

“Yossaria. Your brother is in danger.”

She shot up out of bed, already out the door when she ran into the form of Sylvain. The flowers cushioned the blow, but Yossaria thought that she had another attack. Pansies and violet petals fluttered down, but she knew that she was far beyond that point. She could feel the roots digging deep into her throat, but it was no worse than a regular sore throat.

“Sylvain, move. My brother-”

“Is in the room next to yours. I just saw him go in. It was probably a nightmare, Prof.” Sylvain offered the armful of flowers, and Yossaria dropped her sword to accept them, still groggy and working off of instinct.

Sothis floated behind Sylvain and smiled. Yossaria shot daggers at the ghostly being. Sothis merely shrugged.

“Don't like the flowers, Prof?” Sylvain asked.

“Oh,” Yossaria said, correcting her glare. “No I love these, but... that’s not a typical bouquet. Usually it’s roses, isn’t it?”

“Let’s just say a little birdie said I ought to theme them that way.” Sylvain said with a wink. “Okay, actually I learned you had a case of hanahaki and came to help you out.” Yossaria started to close the door in his face, but Sylvain was an expert and had already wedged his foot between the door and the doorframe. “I’m an expert at confessing your love, so you might as well accept my help.”

“I do not have hanahaki. I don’t know where you heard the rumor but it’s wrong.” Yossaria’s expression was dark. She didn’t want to deal with this right now. She just wanted to sleep and let the medicine work. “Go to bed. We have a big fight tomorrow. More Imperial Troops were spotted coming this way.”

“You got it bad, don’t you?” Sylvain said.

Yossaria blushed, but was mad that he had managed to tease out her feelings so quickly. “Go. To. Bed.”

“No offense Professor...,” Sylvain said. “But no. You blame yourself for letting him get hurt, don’t you?”

Yossaria slammed the door on his foot, but the stupid thing didn’t budge.

“Professor. Please let me help. You know you can’t let this go on for much, longer, right?” Sylvain said. “There’s only a week until the side effects happen, right?”

Yossaria said nothing.

“Or are you already feeling how distant your emotions are?” Sylvain asked. “I had stubbornly refused to fix my hanahaki when I was younger, and... the side effects are nasty.”

“Emotional numbness, lack of empathy, and eventually... after a little over a year of taking it-”

“So, now we get to work. Would you mind letting me in now? Oh and maybe some ice.”

* * *

Keanu spotted Ashe by the fishing hole, wistfully staring out across the water as the fish stole the last of his bait.

“Ashe? Your hook is bare.”

Ashe startled, only barely managing to grab back onto his fishing pole as it went tumbling over and over from his hands. Keanu suppressed a laugh at the sight.

“I heard that you have hanahaki?” he asked, wondering how far Ashe could stretch the lie.

Ashe dropped the fishing pole.

“Are you alright? You seem awfully jumpy for a simple question.” Keanu said. Yuri was right; messing with people was fun.

Ashe looked at his lost fishing pole before answering. “Oh, yes. I do have a case. It’s... quite bad.”

“Do you know who the case might be because of? I mean, that's usually how it goes, right?” Keanu asked, ignoring the tickle in his own throat.

“Oh, right.” Ashe mumbled to himself.

Sothis, in usual Sothis fashion, drifted lazily into view. She didn’t seem entirely interested, but was keeping an eye on Ashe. Keanu figured that after the incident in the infirmary, she’d been keeping her distance. No point in scaring the students if they didn’t need to be scared. Sothis grinned at Keanu, but didn’t have much to say.

“It’s... uh...” Ashe said, darting around to look for anyone to name. A blonde braided head passed behind Keanu. “Ingrid.”

Keanu raised an eyebrow and Sothis squinted closely at Ashe.

“I see. I could arrange something for you, if you want. I don’t want your case to get too aggravated.” Keanu offered.

Unknown to Keanu, Sothis had drifted behind him to mime coughing at Ashe. The delay between Ashe understanding what she was getting at and Ashe fully understanding what she was trying to get him to do was so long that Keanu started to wonder if the fishing pole had resurfaced yet.

“Oh right,” Ashe said. He used a bit of obvious sleight of hand to reach into his pocket, pull out some petals and cough unconvincingly. Keanu noted that they were forget-me-not petals. A good choice. “Yes, that would be... bad.”

“You don’t know what will happen if a case goes too far?” Keanu said. “I hear that it can even kill you. Because the root of hanahaki is our crests, and those have been observed near our hearts, they can wrap roots deeply within our hearts... and stop them.”

“That’s not possible,” Sothis butted in. “Stop trying to scare him.”

Keanu continued, “You’d better hurry up and confess. Or something terrible will happen.”

Ashe nodded. His eyes briefly flicked up at Sothis, but Keanu didn’t notice.

“By the way, I hear my sister has a case as well. Hopefully, your cases aren’t related.” Keanu said. If Ashe was immune due to a lack of crest, Yuri already had medicine, that meant that it was Yossaria that needed the medicine. “Hers is quite bad, though. I hope that she isn’t going to go another week without admitting her feelings.”

“How bad...?” Ashe asked. He was staring deeply at his hands, as if that could help.

“Oh, she’d probably be dead by now if she was off the medicine.” Keanu said, and the whoosh of air from behind him indicated that Sothis had just tried very hard to slap him. “Well, I hope the rest of your fishing... ah. I’ll buy you a new rod.”

* * *

The battlefield was chaos. The field roiled and erupted with Imperial Troops and it was all Yossaria could do to keep the worst of it off her students. Edelgard always seemed interested in secret passages and the twin’s lack of interest in that was something they were paying for now. While Edelgard wasn’t ensuring that they weren’t wiped out personally, she didn’t need to. The troops were well trained and while everyone managed to keep the worst of the battle at bay, it was leaking into the back ranks, where the archers were. Soon they would be overwhelmed unless Yossaria was faster, smarter, anything.

Her arm ached as she swung The Sword of The Creator, letting the chain snake around the finish off the soldier she was fighting. He was the twentieth soldier he had downed that day, but Yossaria wasn’t sure. The worst part of battle was how it all blended together. Turned people with faces into faceless men who were only there to be chopped down.

No, this wasn’t war. It was  _ survival _ . Looking at the greasy armored general at the back, waiting for them to fall, Yossaria knew that their deaths were not equal. She needed to kill him and get the rest to scatter.

That was easier said than done.

Even as she took down an assassin that appeared on her flank, her students were doing worse. Multiple students were needed to take down one soldier.

Keanu was barely keeping pace with her, alternating his magic to heal the students and harm the soldiers, but he was tiring twice as quickly.

“Fall back! If we can cover the mages they can start thinning out the generals!” Yossaria called over the noise.

The students quickly moved together, Ingrid pulling along those who couldn’t keep up and Annette covering the ones who couldn’t get away from their battle partners. The two worked together well, but there wasn’t time for that. Yossaria noticed that they were short a student.

Ashe!

The battlefield was thick with soldiers, but even his silver hair should stand out... Yossaria started diving into the fray again, her tired muscles screaming for rest even as her heart beat faster out of fear.

“Ashe!” Yossaria called. A stray arrow whizzed by, slashing her right shoulder. Luckily, because it hit her she was aware when the poisoned blade came down aiming for her head. Yossaria blocked it, but she was feeling her reactions slow.

An arrow went up into the air near her and Yossaria dispatched the soldier, cutting them down without a second thought. If she thought too hard right now, she was going to get a sword in her back for her troubles.

She heard a cry from Ashe and was already slashing out towards the enemy facing him. Ashe’s bow laid shattered on the ground nearby, nothing but string and wooden splinters.

The blow landed in the soldier’s face, catching on his helmet and preventing Yossaria from pulling her sword back. She didn’t even register that there was still an archer out there. Aiming for her.

It happened in slow motion. The arrow hit and she felt dizzy, but she couldn’t stop. Somewhere along the line, another arrow hit her. Yossaria staggered towards Ashe and managed to retract the sword at last. She wasn’t really thinking by the time she realized that yet another soldier had appeared.

Yossaria covered Ashe and let the sword fall down. After that, she was out cold.

“Pro-professor?” Ashe asked, but there was barely any breathing. He knew because her face was right next to his. However, his hands were warm. And wet. “You have to wake up, Professor.”

The soldier looked surprised that he had managed to land a blow.

Ashe knew that wasn’t going to last for much longer, but he couldn’t move from underneath Yossaria. He needed to move. To do something. Yossaria coughed and he felt flowers tumble down his back, and he knew that he had to do something. He glanced at the fallen Sword of The Creator, and if he could just get one swing in...

Ashe managed to move Yossaria off of him quick enough that he could pick up the sword as he ran to get between her and the soldier.

“I don’t want to do this,” Ashe said. The sword wasn’t glowing, but that didn’t mean that he forgot what it looked like Yossaria’s hands. Hopefully it wouldn’t turn him into a monster. “If you just leave us we’ll go peacefully.”

The soldier didn’t expect to be talked to calmly, but he had a job to do.

The fight was awkward and prolonged; Ashe was not as good with swords as a bow, but he could manage. The soldier managed to land a few blows, a few shallow cuts and his chest burned with pain as he moved but if he left...

Even a quick glance to check on Yossaria -who was not moving now and the pool of blood was growing to a scary degree- earned Ashe a thrust into his shoulder. He wasn’t sure if he screamed, but he returned the favor by stabbing The Sword of The Creator deep into the soldier’s stomach.

He didn’t try to look into the soldier’s eyes, just pulled the sword out -it caught on the armor several times- and limped back to Yossaria.

She wasn’t breathing.

“No,” Ashe said. “No no no,” he said. “This can’t-”

He pulled Yossaria up and tried to carry her back to the group. This was his fault. His stomach roiled at the thought that if he hadn’t been so insistent on trying to help them that he went deep into the front lines Yossaria would be okay.

“Please please,” Ashe rambled. “I need you to mix up violets and pansies again.”

Step.

“I need you to smile like you did when I told you that joke.”

Step.

“I need you to be okay, Professor.”

Step.

“Professor, did I ever tell you about the lonely knight? It’s a funny story...”

Step.

“At first, the knight thought he was a very bad person. He tried to help people, but he was a thief.”

Step. He was gaining momentum now.

“But there was a demon who appeared before him. She said that she was a worse person.”

Step.

“But he didn’t believe her. After a long journey together, he found out it was a mask...” Ashe said, reaching for Yossaria’s arm again, but he couldn’t feel his legs. “And that she made the knight feel like a true hero. She told him over and over again that his kindness was unparalleled... and that he would be like the man he admired so much.”

Step. 

Stumble.

Ashe hit his limit, and the two of them laid on the grass. Ashe fell face first, but he held tight onto Yossaria’s cloak. The last time he lost her, he hadn’t been there.

Yossaria didn’t move.

“Please... say something. I don’t want to lose you.” Ashe gripped the cloth tighter. He realized that his hands were red with Yossaria’s blood. “Please... I lo-”

“They’re over here!”

Ashe fell unconscious, but his death grip on Yossaria’s cloak never wavered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me:  
> How do romance? Is it... hurt them???
> 
> Yes. This is how to romance.


	6. He's Killing Her

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Previously:
> 
> During a Skirmish with Edelgard's forces, Yossaria sacrificed herself to try and protect Ashe, who was also injured during the skirmish.
> 
> Keanu and Yuri both know that they love each other, but Keanu forces Yuri to go off the medicine before Keanu would accept his confession.

Yuri was only barely managing on his flank. He was forced to the back, because if he pushed forward too hard, the thick thorny stems in his throat would cause him to cough up blood.

To say that was a blow to the morale of Abyss was an understatement.

So he stayed back and worked his white magic with Balthus. Which was almost to the point where he wished desperately that the thorns would puncture his lungs at long last and he would be free of the nosy betting that Balthus was trying to set up.

“Balthus, Keanu and I are not dating and speaking of it makes it worse,” Yuri said, sealing up a shallow arrow cut.

“I’m just saying, pal. You oughta start looking into getting a setup for that.”

“To... profit off the fact that people are making bets on whether or not I’m going to actually confess in a week.” Yuri asked, grabbing a nearby set of bandages. “That seems a bit... obvious.”

“I mean you could just do it through a person,” Balthus said. He set a bone in place with his bare hands. The bruiser of a man waited for the screaming of the soldier to stop before he continued, “I do it all the time with my brawls.”

“And that goes as smoothly as I would expect.” Yuri said as he crossed to Balthus’ table. He quickly applied some white magic to soothe some of the pain, but the arm would still need time to heal fully.

“Well, it took at least two of my collectors off my back.” Balthus said, before settling in to call the next patient.

The battle was mostly over now, judging from the lack of patients. Yuri remembered a particularly bad battle where he and Balthus weren’t able to joke from the sheer amount of work required. This was relatively easy, and they even had time to mop. The next man had an arrow in his side, and Yuri was thinking of the best way to remove it.

“Out of how many at the time?” Yuri asked. “You can estimate if you can’t count that high.”

“Uh, I’d rather not say.” Balthus said. “I may be in hiding, but even some people don’t want to say how bad off they are, pal.”

Yuri nodded, suppressing a cough. The arrow wasn’t deep, and it looked like it missed anything major. Which meant a little bit of smart application of force-

Balthus ripped the arrow out in the least smart application of force that Yuri had seen.

“Anyway, you oughta see what people are betting on this. You oughta see how much Constance has on it!”

That was when the doors were thrown open by a multitude of hands, desperate to carry in a set of patients, but Yuri couldn’t tell who they were as the entirety of the Blue Lions class had flooded into the tiny makeshift infirmary.

Yuri tried to push through the crowd, but all he could was wait for them to flood in and set the patients down. Though it must be grim if they were all here. Yuri caught sight of the one eyed boar, lurking outside. Heck of a guard dog, Yuri noted.

“All right, clear out so I can get to work!” Yuri shooed them, except for Mercedes, who he kept back for an extra set of skilled hands.

And from the look of Yossaria, he’d need it.

Mercedes was already elbow deep in applying white magic and supplementing with medicine and stitches where needed. Mercedes was an artist at white magic, and Yuri could only watch in awe before she spoke.

“I need hands on Ashe, Mister Yuri.” her airy voice now held steel just below. She was focused on Yossaria, but she was already assessing what was needed next.

Ashe was in barely better shape compared to the Professor. Yuri quickly checked on the large burn from weeks ago, but luckily nothing major had ripped open, but he’d need to apply some poultices to keep infection at bay from the smaller tears. The shoulder had a deep wound, and even just with some quick finger examination, Yuri knew that the damned Imperials put poison on their blades again.

The shallow cuts were green, and the black veins were visible. He’d refused to use this poison before, because it was nasty, painful stuff. Effective, but undue suffering was always caused.

“Poison. Evergreen, looks like. I have an antidote in Abyss-” Yuri started.

“Got it.” Balthus was off running.

“Yossaria is clear of poison,” Mercedes said. “I hope you have more antidotes... because I don’t think that Ashe will be the only one poisoned...”

“I can ask for a recipe from a resident of Abyss, we have a few burned assassins who used to keep a spare antidote on them, just in case.” Yuri stated, “but we need to stop the bleeding first.”

“I agree. However, I also think he’ll need more blood. Look here,” Mercedes said, pointing at the pale face of Ashe. “He’s paler than usual, and cold to the touch. I’m... I’m not sure who could be a donor though. Crest blood sometimes reacts poorly with normal blood.”

“And I know we just ran the last stock of non-crest blood.” Yuri cursed.

Keanu swept in in the way that he always did. Yuri excused himself, taking a moment out in the hall to regain his senses. 

“Jeralt had unique blood. He always said he could donate to everyone, regardless. What about my sister, does she need blood?”

Mercedes shook her head. “While she did lose a lot of blood, we still have some of yours in stock from the week before. You two should be compatible, and she’s only barely in better shape than Ashe right now.”

Keanu nodded.

Sothis drifted in from behind Keanu, hovering over Ashe. “She could have used time reversal. This was not a necessary outcome.” Sothis looked sad. “I need to stop getting so attached to mortals. Hopefully, Yossaria will pull through, at least.”

When everyone had scattered out of earshot -both because they were trying to find equipment to transfuse and to make sure that the enemies weren’t going to close in any further. While the battle had slowed down, that didn’t mean that it was over, either- Keanu spoke, “She’s too tough to die.”

“All mortals die,” Sothis said.

“Eventually, but I’m pretty sure that she’ll fight tooth and nail to stay here. Plus,” Keanu pointed at Ashe. The silver haired boy was gripping Yossarai’s cape tightly. “Hanahaki for Ingrid, huh?”

“... I needed you to believe that Yossaria was not ill. I... It was not my secret to tell,” Sothis admitted.

“We know. Ashe has never been subtle. But this has gone on long enough.” Keanu pulled Ashe’s hand off of Yossaria’s cape. “He’s killing her.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had this written in the before times, but since it wasn't enough for a chapter I didn't post it. But... I read over the end again and I was like "but that 'feels' like a end of a chapter". So I figured I'd post it.
> 
> Expect new chapters in a week? Probably?


	7. Bouquet

Ashe was in the garden again today. He liked to wander in whenever he could escape Manuela’s sharp sight, and the last few days were much needed to be spent away from...

Yossaria’s sleeping face drifted into his memory and Ashe blushed so deeply that his face went nearly as red as the flowers behind him. 

Had he really said all those things?

That was so... so... corny!

Sure he wanted to say some of those things, but he wanted to curl up and die from all of his admissions. It was his fault she was hurt and sleeping right now. But her standing over him like a guardian angel... and being cut down. He’d been out so far to prove to her that he was still capable and fine to fight. Ergo, all of this was his fault. What if she never woke up...?

What if she needed a true love’s kiss like in all those fairy tales?

Ashe blushed even deeper -somehow- and tried very hard not to imagine himself doing that. He couldn’t even try to change the image without feeling...

He pictured Sylvain standing around... in the courtyard maybe? Girls liked to gather there sometimes. Then rushing to Yossaria’s room.

“Hark, my lady is ill and I shall lend mine lips to her for the truest cure,” Sylvain said in Ashe’s daydream. The red-orange haired boy leaned down, over the pale face of Yossaria.

Closer... closer...

Ashe’s stomach twisted around violently. He tried to shake the image of Yossaria’s soft lips, just a little chapped where she’d been biting her lip from when she was working on papers and battle plans...

No. No. She wasn’t... she wasn’t interested in him like that. He was a student. Or he had been to her. Sometimes she’d absentmindedly ask him if he had finished that week’s assignment.

His gaze landed on the patch of violets in front of him.

“Why is love so hard? It always seems so straightforward in stories,” Ashe said to the violets. They did not reply. “All I have to say is I lo- I.. I love...” 

“It shouldn’t be this hard.” Ashe sighed and moved to sit down because at least he couldn’t flomp back and crush the flowers. “Just say three words and maybe then I can die happy.”

The violets softly waved in the breeze coming through the greenhouse. He even noticed a pansy or two among them.

“Ah, sir are you done talking to the plants? I need ta water ‘em.” the gardener said. “That new-old teacher used ta come by to water ‘em, but I heard she got hurt in the last battle. Don’t want ‘em to die. She grew ‘em by planting bits and pieces of flowers, she sure had a lot of cuttings. Never asked her how she got ‘em though.”

“New... old teacher?” Ashe asked.

“Ah the one with a twin? The lady twin? Real nice, always comes by with seeds, but ‘this plot is special’, she said.”

“It is?” Ashe asked.

“ ‘s what she said. Can’t argue with that.” the gardener shrugged and continued on.

Ashe hummed in agreement, watching them wave in the soft breeze. He was so distracted that when he was suddenly hauled up by the front of his shirt, he realized the flowers were moving because of the speed of Keanu’s angry run.

“You’re killing my sister.” a statement of fact, spoken in a hiss.

Ashe could feel his wounds twitch in agony from the rough handling. Keanu’s eyes were slitted, like a snake’s. Huh... Ashe had never noticed that before. Funny what you noticed when you’re held in front of someone.

“Answer!” Keanu said, shaking Ashe like a ragdoll.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Ashe responded, feeling a wound open up and start to bleed down his side.

Keanu, rather than be reasonable, threw Ashe into the plot of violets and pansies. The crackle of fire could be heard from behind Ashe. The twins were fearsome, but Ashe never thought he’d be on this side of their wrath.

“Hanahaki!” Keanu said. “You gave it to her!”

Ashe felt his blood run cold. No that... that was true. As much as he thought Sylvain was better at this than him... Yossaria protected  _ him _ . Charged in blindly and got severely injured  _ because of him. _

“And now, because the roots are around her heart... she won’t recover from her injuries.” Keanu said, the words dripping with anger. “And it’s all your fault!”

“Stop it!” a head of green hair swooshed in front of Ashe, blocking him from seeing Keanu’s full rage.

“Sothis, move!”

The greenhouse was sweltering.

“I will not!” Sothis was a wall between them. “Killing him will not change anything. Think of Yuri, who was infected the whole five years you were away.”

“Yuri has Hanahaki?” Ashe asked, carefully peeking out from behind Sothis.

Keanu’s narrowed eyes became near lethal to look at, and Ashe ducked away.

“You can see her?” Keanu asked, his anger replaced with confusion.

Whoops, Ashe thought. “... Yes. She’s... she’s been helping me out sometimes.”

“.... elaborate.” Keanu said, the flames around him starting to settle down.

“She suggested that I... pretend to have Hanahaki.” Ashe admitted, realizing how stupid it was to even pretend without a crest.

“Why?” Keanu asked.

“It was all part of my brilliant plan!” Sothis claimed. “By distracting you from figuring out how far Yossaria’s Hanahaki had progressed, you could solve your own Hanahaki problem.”

“There  _ is  _ no problem.” Keanu was angry again, but Ashe would take the opportunity to crawl out of the flowerbed. He knew when people’s eyes were focused on him, and when they were looking elsewhere. He also grabbed one of the less trampled flowers as he went.

“So you’re forcing someone who has had to bury feelings for five years to go off the medicine that was keeping him  _ alive _ and forcing him to confess again.” Sothis was really digging into Keanu now. “Do you even really love him?”

Keanu looked as though she’d slapped him.

* * *

Five years ago, Yuri had been on guard duty, watching the stars twinkle above him as silence stretched out over the monastery. Even the guards who were more excited about duties for the monastery quieted down, partially out of consideration for students, but mostly because the night wrapped them in a blanket in darkness.

Keanu was not a person to fear the darkness. He often wandered the quiet place during the night, unable to sleep due to just feeling...  _ too _ comfortable. Like if he relaxed too much, he’d receive a dagger in the back. That arena... fighting teacher already gave him chills. There was no way on this world he was going to let that man ever get the chance to fight him.

There was too much dark hunger in those eyes. Masked or not, every inch of his exposed face revealed how desperate he was to  _ kill _ . 

“Can’t sleep?” Yuri asked, appearing behind Keanu as though he were made of darkness himself.

Keanu looked unsurprised, but his hand was already softly glowing with magic.

Yuri glanced down, then smiled. “Just that excited to see me, huh?”

“Sneaking up on people often gets you killed.” Keanu said, matter of fact.

“I’m supposed to be out here, though. I’m on night watch, so if I’m supposed to be here watching for suspicious figures...”

Keanu relaxed. He politely bowed and started to walk away.

The rest of the night, Keanu patrolled, sometimes tailed by Yuri, sometimes Keanu could only sense the other man. The monastery was still a mystery in its layout, so Keanu was partially mapping it out and partially avoiding sleeping. His ‘patrol’ was more justification that he just needed to know the layout. He was only a little lost when he ran into Yuri again.

Yuri was sprawled out on the stairs leading to the market. The stalls were all closed up and shuttered. The gates were shut tight and locked, and for a second Keanu was sure that he caught a glimpse of ill intent in the walls.

“Had enough of mapping the monastery?” Yuri broke in, interrupting Keanu’s thoughts.

“What? Oh, yes.” Keanu responded.

“Trust me,” Yuri said, looking like a criminal with a sly smile, “I know how to sense ill intent.”

Keanu rolled his eyes. He caught a glimpse of the stars, and his eyes lingered for a moment. They looked so clear here in the monastery, so vibrant.

“Don’t ask me what those constellations are,” Yuri admitted. Keanu caught an edge of irritation in the lavender man’s voice. “Never learned.”

“Same here,” Keanu said, moving to sit next to Yuri. “Jeralt used to make up constellations, though. He wasn’t very creative about it,” Keanu said as he pointed to a cluster of stars. “He said that one was an apple.”

“An... apple.”

Keanu pointed to another, “that was a sword... that got bent. Jeralt wasn’t very creative, as I said.”

“Well, I suppose anyone can make up a constellation if they wanted, then.” Yuri said, looking up at the stars. They twinkled down at him like they were mocking the two of them for not knowing a single one of their names.

“That bright one...” Keanu said. “I’m going to call it the Apple star.”

“Why?” Yuri asked, still searching for it.

“It’s kinda reddish, I think.”

“That’s a dumb name,” Yuri said.

“Well, if they want to be up there, then who’s to say we have the right names for them?” Keanu said. “It’s not like the stars are going to come down and correct us.”

Yuri thought about it for a moment, then pointed to the star next to the newly named Apple star and said, “that’s the Blue Idiot star.”

“You know I’m a professor here, right?”

“Could be any Blue-ish professor idiot on campus.” Yuri replied, and the conversation felt easy for both of them.

Keanu was staring at the Apple and Blue Idiot stars twinkling next to each other when he realized that was the most relaxed he had felt the whole time he’d been there. “I wonder how many are up there?”

“A million,” Yuri said.

“Seems pretty low to me,” Keanu replied.

“I’m the man in charge of facts here, so a million it is.” Yuri continued, “and also you know I never act on half-truths.”

“Ah, I see now.” Keanu said. “We’ve got to name a million stars.” He sighed. “That’s a lot of names, and I’m almost nearly out as it stands.

“Wait,” Yuri said mockingly. “You mean you were lying about those stars the whole time?”

Keanu laughed, feeling for the first time that things would be all right here at the monastery.

* * *

Yuri sat on the chair in the infirmary, listening to the slow breathing of the patients inside. He thought about the night he had met Keanu, with the stars. Yuri hadn’t thought of it in a long time, because every heartbeat became... tighter. Shallower. The roots embedded in his heart let themselves be known.

But Yuri didn’t care about that. His emotions felt scrambled, like pieces of a few different puzzles that had fallen on the floor. It was hard to find fear of death amongst it all. Yuri clicked his tongue, and stood up.

He could still check on the patients, though. So he pulled himself through the routines that Manuela listed out for when she was out, healing the ones who couldn’t be taken to the infirmary. Or drinking and flirting. Hard to tell.

Yuri finally arrived at Yossaria, where the quiet, but troubled, breaths could be heard from the other side of the curtain. She wheezed slightly, and Yuri understood. His own breathing could sound the same way.

Pulling the curtain back, Yuri could see Yossaria, asleep on the bed. Her wounds were closed, but she was still sleeping. From her mouth, the growth of violets and pansies were starting to grow into a little garden all their own. No one was sure if they should pull it out or cut it... or if there was a point, since they’d grow back just as fast.

Yuri sat down, just watching the flowers. 


	8. Burnt Petals

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Previously:
> 
> Keanu blamed Ashe for giving Yossaria hanahaki, and was stopped by Sothis who asked him if he really loved Yuri.
> 
> After a short flashback to the early days the monastery, Yuri watches an unconscious Yossaria sleep, watching the massive amount of flowers flow in the breeze.

Keanu raged. 

Sothis’ words hurt. They cut deep, and all Keanu could feel was anger. Anger at her, anger at Ashe, anger at... himself. Magic ignited all around him, and it was all he could manage to keep it from burning the whole greenhouse down with him inside. a dark voice told him he deserved it.

Sothis’ green eyes merely watched him decline, judging him.

“I cannot read your mind,” she finally said. “Yossaria’s was the same way... when she got close to her month limit.”

Flames licked his face, but he couldn’t deny it. “When he confessed... I was scared.” Wind caught the flames and pushed them into his face. “I... He was so sincere and I was... am... a liar.”

Sothis said nothing, her silence as damming as her scathing words could be.

The flames were scorching parts of his cloak now, too hot to contain by normal willpower alone.

“You were afraid it would change... what? Your already stable relationship? Your secret jokes?” 

“Yes!” Keanu yelled, and he was enveloped in flames, the greenhouse already alight. “I... took a double dose. After he confessed I-” Keanu stopped, like the words were stuck in his throat, “I couldn’t stand feeling like I put his life in danger-!” Keanu coughed and a spray of petals followed, burning up the lavender petals as they fluttered in the breeze.

Sothis did not show any emotion on her face. Watching the entire greenhouse go up in flames did not bother her, it seemed. Her eyes remained locked on Keanu, who had collapsed. If he was crying, no one could tell. The heat had reached the point where everything just vanished into mist.

Sothis did not say anything.

The cries of people and monks around the greenhouse were scattered and far away. Keanu was dimly aware of being pulled out the greenhouse, but all he could see was the goddess herself standing amid the flames. Slitted eyes reflecting the chaotic fire around her.

All Keanu could feel anymore was anger.

That was the semifinal stage of the medicine. The brain desperately holding onto anything at all. Emotion was all it had, so it amplified it. It was the signal that he’d go brain dead very, very soon. Manuela had explained all this at the time, but he didn’t care.

He wondered how Yuri could merely do the regular dose for so long... before he was thrown into the fishing pond.

* * *

Yossaria’s eyes fluttered open, barely able to sort out why she could see such color right before them. She must have gotten flowers after... the memory and the wounds still felt fresh, so the flowers were probably get-well flowers. Slowly, she realized that something was preventing her from closing her mouth.

And the flowers were too close to her face for them to have been placed there. 

Yossaria’s heart started to race, each beat painful but strong. It was all she could do to not hyperventilate. The clatter of a chair falling to the floor beside her caught her attention, and while she didn’t see the occupant, she could see out the window what they had left for.

A fire, and a massive one at that. She didn’t have time to sit around, if that fire was from enemy forces, at any rate. She had to protect them. Yossaria grabbed a small bundle of flowers from in her mouth, and pulled. It hurt. Oh how it  _ hurt _ . The sight of the fire powered her through what felt like choking and pulling out a tooth simultaneously. The taste of iron flooded into her mouth, but she had only pulled out maybe a quarter of the patch.

Again and again Yossaria pulled the plants out, the roots dripping blood but clearly not ending merely at the back of her throat. She could feel leaves fluttering in her chest with every breath. But the pain didn’t matter. She staggered upright, grabbed her sword which had been fortunately left by her bed, -Keanu no doubt- and moved as fast as her aching body could go to the door.

Ashe could be hurt, or worse. A quick scan revealed that he wasn’t in the infirmary, and he wasn’t in much better shape than her. Her fault. She wasn’t loyal enough to think of something better than being a human shield.

* * *

The fire was worse than she thought. She couldn’t really tell what the building was anymore, beneath the writhing mass of flames, but she  _ could  _ tell what used to stand there. The greenhouse. The flowers were burning, and people were scrambling to put it out.

“The Imperial Army might see it! Get it under control!”

“I thought I saw someone suspicious enter, maybe it was a spy!”

“There’s still someone inside!”

“The flames are magical, we need more casters, quick!”

“I knew it! A spy really did this!”

Sothis walked out from among the flames, only noticed by Yossaria. To anyone else, it was a miracle. To Yossaria it was confirmation of who was in there. Sothis spread out her arms, trying to block Yossaria from entering.

Yossaria looked up at the flames. They raged, fearsome and angry. Knowing they were magical, knowing that there was someone inside...

She  _ had  _ to protect them. There was no other feeling that could act on. 

“You cannot.” Sothis said, still blocking the entrance. “You have business elsewhere. Ashe managed to get out, but he needs help. And I tire of this tawdry play.” The goddess pointed at the small blood trail leading out of the fiery greenhouse.

Locking eyes, Yossaria understood that Sothis had this in hand, somehow. And if Ashe was bleeding, he could still be injured or burned by those flames.

She had to protect him.

Yossaria could still taste the iron in her mouth and the flowers in her throat, but she willed herself to keep moving. She managed to walk to the courtyard, following the trail. Concerningly, it grew larger as she walked.

Her back was on fire, protesting her forcing it to hold her upright while it was still healing. No doubt she was past the worst of it, but one did not get cut by a sword and simply get up and walk away afterwards just fine.

Soon, she found him sitting underneath a tree, using it as support. He looked okay, a little banged up and burned, but more alarming, a few of his injuries had opened up. The wrappings looked like they had been through more than just a fire.

“Ashe!” Yossaria called, staggering over to the unconscious form of Ashe. She collapsed and held him tightly. She could feel his heartbeat. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry...”

She had nothing to be sorry about, but she knew somehow she had failed him. She thought of a dim memory from before.

Sylvain, who saw the chaos, was watching from a distance, keeping people at bay while the two finally admitted how they felt. Of course, he smiled with a grim jealousy, but he knew better than to act on his more selfish nature. For now, he could enjoy this soap opera as it unfolded.

“There was a demon. She never smiled, never bothered asking why. She looked at fairy tales, and threw them away. There was no such thing for this demon. She could not imagine good in the world when she had only been sent to deal with the bad,” Yossaria said, “but one day she met a lonely knight. He met a thief and gave him money, letting him get away. The demon could not understand why he had done this.

“She had never thought to spare a thief. To the demon, thieves were less than human. But the lonely knight showed her a world unlike the one she’d known. He showed her books, and the demon read late into the night.

“She felt unworthy. That somehow, some way, she’d ruin it all with her power. That her touch would cause it to wither and die. So she put all her feelings in a bottle.

“And every day she had to keep adding more to the bottle, because the feelings grew anew.”

Ashe continued, “but the lonely knight knew. And every day he thought that she loved someone else.”

Yossaria didn’t say anything in response, but blushed deeply and buried herself deeper into Ashe’s shoulder.

“I... I love you, Yossaria,” he said.

Yossaria was silent, but she hugged him even tighter.

“I think you’re going to break a rib-” Ashe wheezed out, but was interrupted by:

“I love you too.”

* * *

Keanu, meanwhile, was being tackled into the large pond by the greenhouse. It was not graceful, romantic, or anything other than someone dealing with a threat. Well, he supposed in the last bit of rational thought in his mind, he  _ was  _ being a threat. But he thrashed and tried to escape the tackle.

The water was cold, as usual. Maybe one could claim it might cool Keanu’s hotheadedness, but to no avail. Flames were smothered and turned into bubbles of hot water, but he was beginning to tire.

He just wanted to stay angry. Angry at Ashe, angry at himself, angry at the Imperials.

Anger was white hot and it felt like something more than drifting between days. It felt less like every moment he was aware that it was something out of his control and could do nothing to fix.

He was so, so tired.

Keanu shoved one last time and the figure finally let go. Lavender hair floated in the bubbles for a moment before Keanu realized who exactly had tackled him. The white hot anger turned into fear in an instant. Did the fire hurt him?  _ Did he hurt Yuri? _

He’d been so angry... was that truly all he had in him anymore? No room for anything except anger.

They clawed their way to the surface, gasping for air, and blessedly it was not as hot as it should have been. Once Keanu was knocked out of the greenhouse, he must have lost concentration on the magic. The greenhouse looked the worse for wear, though. Everything looked closer to an actual enemy attack than one brought on by... well, a tantrum.

Yuri splashed him, bringing Keanu back to reality.

“What the hell were you thinking?” Yuri yelled.”A fire in a greenhouse... really? We use that for food and supplies, not just flowers!”

Yuri splashed him again.

“I... wasn’t.” Keanu admitted.

“Obviously!” Yuri sighed and started to swim back towards the dock.

Keanu floated there for a moment, wondering if he should go back at all. He did just sort of burn down their greenhouse. That would probably mean that he’d have to deal with the questions and why he did what he did...

Keanu let go of his last emotion and started swimming towards shore, instead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Getting towards the end is scary, isn't it?
> 
> I'm not sure how to end this yet so I put off writing this for a while, but I think I have an idea for what to do next.


	9. Constellation Bouquet

Two days since the incident, Keanu watched Yossaria and Ashe carry on, giggling and laughing. They’d been chewed out by Manuela for their foolhardy actions, but their guilt hadn’t lasted long. He’d never watched his own sister smile so much.

He hadn’t seen Yuri since then, but Keanu found it freeing.

Yossaria could be the happy one. He could just leave and let them be.

So he had. Tonight, he was all packed and ready to leave. He’d taken the last of the medicine, grabbed his bag, and was now just staring down the gates. Keanu didn’t want to leave, but he had to. Pushing open the gate, he caught sight of the blue star they had named all those years ago.

“The Blue Idiot star.”

Keanu kept walking.

“So that’s it? You just say, ‘I deserve to die’ and walk out of here?” Yuri asked.

“You know what I did.” Keanu said, not stopping. No looking back.

“Set our greenhouse on fire?” Yuri stated.

Keanu stopped, and shook like his form couldn’t contain all the guilt eating at him. “I Almost hurt you. Almost hurt a student.”

“You didn’t, though, and I’m not really a student.” Yuri caught up to the soon to be ex-professor, and put a hand on the man’s shoulder. Yuri could still smell the burning leaves from not that long ago clinging to the other man like shadows. “You stink like lavender.”

“Blame Yossaria. She’s been planting and working on the greenhouse repairs,” Keanu lied.

“You’re not some hero, Keanu,” Yuri said, growing angry. “Don’t act like you’re doing some heroic thing by wandering off into the woods and dying. You’re just being selfish.”

It was when Keanu turned to face Yuri that the lavender haired man saw the emptiness in Keanu’s eyes. Empty pools of green and blue, an endless sucking abyss of guilt, depression and... nothing. What do you say to a sight like that consuming someone who once laughed and joked with you?

Yuri’s stunned silence was all Keanu needed to pull further away. Yuri noted he walked like a tin soldier toy, one foot in front of the other. Yuri remembered how he liked to watch them walk off of tables and plummet onto the floor. They’d keep walking there, legs wobbling into the empty space, until they finally stopped moving.

“K-keanu...” Yuri choked out, recovering from his shock. The thorns were terrible. He tried to form more words, but they all were garbled in the vines. He wasn’t even sure what he was trying to say.

Keanu looked back, briefly, his blue eye overflowing with tears while his face remained blank. It was an odd emotion, seeing the evidence of emotion without the light in his eye to show that he was somewhere in there.

“I accept your confession,” Keanu said before he closed his eyes and collapsed.

Yuri was there in an instant, holding the barely breathing form of Keanu. Yuri held him tightly, his words lost against the unconscious man’s chest. Yuri wanted to cry. He could feel the tears forming, but they wouldn’t fall. An emotion just out of reach.

_ “Emotions are always a factor that you can never discount. Even the greatest of plans fail if you’re too angry to follow through properly.” _

Yossaria had been right all those years ago. However, even trying to account for it was impossible. All he wanted to do now was cry and hold Keanu, but he couldn’t even do one of those things. 

Yuri slapped Keanu. “You stupid idot!”  _ Slap _ . “How could you do this?”  _ Slap _ . “Get up you damned idiot!”  _ Slap _ . “Don’t be a hero, just... be... you.”

Keanu’s eyes gradually opened, like it was just a long nap instead of a collapse. Wordlessly, Keanu cupped Yuri’s cheek and pulled him in for a kiss.

When they finally parted, Keanu smiled -really smiled- and said, “got you.”

Yuri lightly punched him, and started laughing.

“That’s not funny you,” Yuri said, “you Sothis-damned jackass.”

“There’s that crassness I was hoping to hear,” Keanu said.

Under the stars, they laughed.

“So,” Keanu said. “How  _ did  _ you manage to survive five years of this medicine?”

“Well, the truth is that I lied for most of it. Everyone assumed, so I let them think it wasn’t as bad as it looked. I even got to root out the worst of Abyss, when they thought I was weakened.” Yuri explained. “But then you had to go and show up again.”

“And here I just slept through it,” Keanu said. He was playing with Yuri’s hair, twisting the lavender locks beneath his fingers.

“Yeah, you’re right. I am pretty great.”

“Oh goddess... and I asked you to get off of it!” Keanu said, covering his face with his hands. “I thought you were drug addled!”

“Yeah, that was pretty stupid of you,” Yuri said, leaning in, hoping for a kiss.

“Hey!” Keanu said, still bright red under his hands. After a moment he added, “I love you.”

It was Yuri’s turn to blush now. “Awful early to say that to a murdering crook, don’t you think?”

“Well, I guess we’re just going to live with our crimes,” Keanu said, still bright red. He somehow managed to pull off a wink, though Yuri was sure the man was about to combust.

“Yeah, I guess so.”

And that sounded... better than knowing all the stars in the sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo I did it!
> 
> And update:  
> I still haven't finished Blue Lions. I... should probably finish that route now that this is done, now shouldn't I?


End file.
